Introduction. Instructions

Transcription

1 Start your 7-week reading plan today! During the weeks leading up to Easter, alum will be reading the Bible together and diving in to 10 themes in hopes of drawing closer to one another and to Jesus. Introduction But He was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. Isaiah 53:5 (NLT) The weeks leading up to Easter have always been important to Christians. We see Jesus heart for the world as He was pierced, crushed, and beaten for our salvation! As Christians, we re called to become like Jesus. This reading plan will center on 10 themes that Christians throughout the world have focused on during this season in hopes of growing in their relationships with Him. Don t worry if you fall behind! The words aren t going anywhere and you can revisit them someday, don t feel like you need to catch up simply stick to the reading of the day. Instructions You ll notice that the readings are shorter than those from other plans. We studied and prayed through these readings to give you only a couple verses each day. What we hope though, is that you ll let these words sink deep into your heart and begin to become a part of how you view God. Request: Begin by asking God to reveal Himself to you as you read. Read: The day s passage slowly a few times until some words or ideas begin to catch your attention. Reflect: Begin to focus on those words or ideas and repeat them in your mind, then ask yourself; Why do these stick out? What am I reminded of? What does it make me hope for? Receive: Share with God what word, phrase, or idea captured your attention. Ask Him how He might want to use these to impact and transform you. Remember: God is with you and that He is at work transforming your heart. Hold on to these words and remember them throughout the day. Many have benefited over time by keeping a physical reminder with them to bring Scripture to mind. Jews have always placed Scripture on the doors of their homes. Many people prominently display Scripture throughout their homes. Eileen Zilch, SpringHill s Director of Information and Technology, encourages staff to keep a notecard with passages with them at all times. Summer Camps, Day Camps, Retreats & Events P.O. Box 100 Evart, MI springhillcamps.com

2 Forgiveness Joel 2:12 13 That is why the Lord says, Turn to Me now, while there is time. Give Me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Don t tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead. Return to the Lord your God, for He is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He is eager to relent and not punish Joel 2:15 16 Blow the ram s horn in Jerusalem! Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. Gather all the people the elders, the children, and even the babies. Call the bridegroom from his quarters and the bride from her private room Joel 2:17 18 Let the priests, who minister in the Lord s presence, stand and weep between the entry room to the Temple and the altar. Let them pray, Spare your people, Lord! Don t let your special possession become an object of mockery. Don t let them become a joke for unbelieving foreigners who say, Has the God of Israel left them? Repentance Then the Lord will pity his people and jealously guard the honor of his land Acts 3:19 Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away Luke 9:23 25 Then He said to the crowd, If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow Me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for My sake, you will save it. And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but are yourself lost or destroyed? Chronicles 7:14 Then if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land Isaiah 30:15a This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: Only in returning to Me and resting in Me will you be saved. In quietness and confidence is your strength Mark 1:12 15 The Spirit then compelled Jesus to go into the wilderness, where He was tempted by Satan for forty days. He was out among the wild animals, and angels took care of Him. Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where He preached God s Good News. The time promised by God has come at last! He announced. The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News! Solitude Mark 6:31 32 Then Jesus said, Let s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile. He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and His Apostles didn t even have time to eat. So they left by boat for a quiet place, where they could be alone Matthew 4:1 2 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry Luke 6:12 13a One day soon afterward Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and He prayed to God all night. At daybreak He called together all of His disciples and chose twelve of them to be Apostles Mark 1:35 Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray Matthew 14:23 After sending them home, He went up into the hills by himself to pray. Night fell while He was there alone Luke 5:16 But Jesus often withdrew to the wilderness for prayer.

3 Hebrews 4:14 16 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Prayer Matthew 6:6 But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you Philippians 4:6 7 Don t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus Acts 1:14 They all met together and were constantly united in prayer, along with Mary the mother of Jesus, several other women, and the brothers of Jesus Chronicles 16:11 Search for the Lord and for His strength; continually seek Him Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart Romans 8:26 And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words Mark 9:9 10 As they went back down the mountain, He told them not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. So they kept it to themselves, but they often asked each other what He meant by rising from the dead. Obedience James 1:22 24 But don t just listen to God s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like Matthew 26:39 He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine Romans 5:19 Because one person disobeyed God, many became sinners. But because one other Person obeyed God, many will be made righteous John 1:6 Love means doing what God has commanded us, and He has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning Philippians 2:1-2 Is there any encouragement from belonging to Christ? Any comfort from His love? Any fellowship together in the Spirit? Are your hearts tender and compassionate? Then make Me truly happy by agreeing wholeheartedly with each other, loving one another, and working together with one mind and purpose John 3:24 Those who obey God s commandments remain in fellowship with Him, and He with them. And we know He lives in us because the Spirit He gave us lives in us John 3:16 17 For this is how God loved the world: He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him.

4 Meditation Philippians 4:8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise Corinthians 5:21 For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ Matthew 6:19 21 Don t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be John 10:28 29 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from Me, for My Father has given them to Me, and He is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father s hand John 3:1 2 See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don t recognize that we are God s children because they don t know Him. Dear friends, we are already God s children, but He has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like Him, for we will see Him as He really is John 16:7; 16:13 But in fact, it is best for you that I go away, because if I don t, the Advocate won t come. If I do go away, then I will send Him to you. When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on His own but will tell you what He has heard. He will tell you about the future John 12:23 24 Jesus replied, Now the time has come for the Son of Man to enter into His glory. I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels a plentiful harvest of new lives. Forgiveness Colossians 3:13 Make allowance for each other s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others Ephesians 4:31 32 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you Corinthians 13:4 6 Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out Matthew 18: Then Peter came to Him and asked, Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times? No, not seven times, Jesus replied, but seventy times seven!" Romans 12:20 Instead, If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads Corinthians 5:17 19 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to Himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to Him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, no longer counting people s sins against them. And He gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.

5 John 12:12 13 The next day, the news that Jesus was on the way to Jerusalem swept through the city. A large crowd of Passover visitors took palm branches and went down the road to meet Him. They shouted, Praise God! Blessings on the One who comes in the name of the Lord! Hail to the King of Israel! Service Isaiah 58:6 7 No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help Mark 9:35 He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to Him, and said, Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else Philippians 2:5 8 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though He was God, He did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, He gave up His divine privileges; He took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When He appeared in human form, He humbled Himself in obedience to God and died a criminal s death on a cross. Passion John 13:3 5 Jesus knew that the Father had given Him authority over everything and that He had come from God and would return to God. So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, and poured water into a basin. Then He began to wash the disciples feet, drying them with the towel He had around Him Romans 5:6 10 When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And since we have been made right in God s sight by the blood of Christ, He will certainly save us from God s condemnation. For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son Psalm 22:22 24 I will proclaim Your name to my brothers and sisters. I will praise You among Your assembled people. Praise the Lord, all you who fear Him! Honor Him, all you descendants of Jacob! Show Him reverence, all you descendants of Israel! For He has not ignored or belittled the suffering of the needy. He has not turned His back on them, but has listened to their cries for help Revelation 1:17 18 When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as if I were dead. But He laid His right hand on me and said, 'Don t be afraid! I am the First and the Last. I am the living one. I died, but look I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and the grave. Mission Matthew 28:19 20 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois All rights reserved.